The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office along with members of the East End Marine Task Force, working in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, New York State Information Center, United States Coast Guard and Customs and Border Patrol, conducted Operation S.H.I.E.L.D. (Suffolk Homeland Security Interdiction, Education Long Island Defense), over the Labor Day weekend.
Operation S.H.I.E.L.D. is aimed at identifying, limiting and disrupting the ability of terrorists, traffickers and immigration law violators to surreptitiously enter the U.S. by utilizing the East End of Long Island which serves as a gateway to Suffolk, Nassau, and N.Y.C. waters.
During the operation over 128 marinas in 20 bodies of water, from Moriches Bay to Fishers Island encompassing the 5 eastern townships and 6 villages on eastern long island and over 348 miles of shore line that surrounds them were checked.
The SuffolkCounty Sheriff’s Office along with the Task Force officers checked over 100 vessels; located and boarded 28 foreign flagged vessels. The operation netted nine non-compliant customs violations and 15 N.Y.S. navigation law equipment/registration violations. Steven Eggen, 7/20/55, aboard the foreign vessel “Valerina” flagged from the Cayman Islands was arrested for possession of a loaded handgun.
Haz-Mat officers detected 2 radiation sources which were mitigated as medical sources.
Intelligence gathered during the operation will be shared between the agencies which will assist in dealing with patterns of arrival of foreign-flagged vessels, educating the foreign-flagged vessels in the customs procedures when entering the United States and gathering contraband and smuggling intelligence.
Informational handouts and posters distributed during the operation will assist law enforcement agencies with gathering info from the public in the future. There is a tremendous challenge to reduce the risk of violations given the great size of the small vessel community; fortunately the size also constitutes its greatest asset which is a wealth of professional mariners and recreational boaters that represent a large number of eyes on the water. The Public is reminded “if you see something say something’’ N.Y.S. Office of Homeland Security: 1-866-SAFE-NYS